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The Smithsonian

“Erupting Into Space” was captured by NASA’s Galileo orbiter in 1997
While we might appreciate the images gathered by NASA’s various satellites and probes for their scientific value, the often grainy, hazy pictures are probably only considered breathtaking or beautiful as well by planetary enthusiasts, but a new series of outer space photographs by artists Michael Benson is turning more than just scientists’ heads. Benson, whose work includes the documentary PREDICTIONS OF FIRE that premiered at our very own Sundance Film Festival in 1995, scoured NASA’s archives for extraordinary images, which he then manipulated so that they appear to the viewer in a museum as an astronaut would see them in outer space.

In 2001 Julia Child donated her kitchen to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and not only is the entire kitchen (walls and windows and all) on display, but so are a bevy of gadgets. Child was a confessed gadget freak, and it’s evident in the array of standard kitchen fare: mixers, ricers, blenders, processors, mallets, cleavers, saws and of course her beloved “fright knife.”